Re: Alberta's cougar harvest policy doesn't track (Jasper Local, February 14, 2025). February 19, 2025 Dear Editor: As a retired community newspaper publisher, taking a compliment on a good piece or editorial is something that I used to shy away from. That said, Bradley and Covey deserve a tip-of-th...

Last week, while checking some of his trail cameras near Canmore’s Gap Lake, conservationist and wildlife photographer John E. Marriott came upon a cougar kill. Marriott thought it was his lucky day: a big horned sheep carcass meant the elusive cats were likely nearby, and paw prints surrounding the...

Jasperites finally have some answers about interim housing. Details about the type, layout and anticipated location of Parks Canada-procured interim housing have been released by the Jasper Recovery Coordination Centre. According to the JRCC, approximately 100 duplex-style trailers, representing up ...

Rent is rising in Jasper, and with it, tenants’ anxiety about being able to afford to live here. Last week, residents in the 36 units of the “Walk Ups” (1004 Patricia Street apartments) were sent notice that starting May 1, 2025, their rents were going up—from $1,500 to $2,000, in the case of one co...

Jasperites marched in solidarity against the lack of progress on interim housing January 24. Six months to the day after the homes of approximately 2,000 people living in Jasper burned in the largest wildfire ever recorded in Jasper National Park, hundreds of demonstrators showed their unity with di...

It’s been six months since Jasper was evacuated due to the threat of a massive wildfire roaring down the Athabasca Valley. On Friday, January 24, it will be exactly six months since thousands of Jasperites learned that their homes, businesses and everything in them burnt to the ground . And on Satur...

Dear Mr. Bradley, I read your response ( Wildlife responders program a poorly camouflaged grizzly hunt? ) to the announcement of the grizzly cull recently announced by Minister Loewen.  I live in a small village in huge Alberta and hunted for 30 years. Most of my hunting was in the local area but so...

January 6 meeting will test province and feds' willingness to put Jasper first Christmas was hard this year for Jasperites. Besides losing the homes that they built their lives in, the loss of personal belongings—from irreplaceable Christmas decorations to seasonal sports equipment—has come sharply ...

Parks Canada is stepping in to provide interim housing for Jasperites who lost their homes to wildfire. The federal agency will install two camp-style facilities with capacity for more than 200 people, according to Jasper National Park associate superintendent Ifan Thomas. “We’ve secured a camp that...

Avni Soma’s mission to flip Conservative-dominated Yellowhead to the NDP is a spicy order. But the Canmore-based scientist, community leader and food advocate says she’s ready for the heat. Avni Soma is wearing fur-lined mittens, sturdy winter boots and a pompom-adorned toque, pulled down to meet th...

Municipal affairs critic says province is bullying Jasper into accepting their rebuild parameters  The Government of Alberta is ratcheting up the pressure on local planners in Jasper to sign off on leases where interim housing is slated to be built. But local authorities want clarity on what those b...

"At this moment in time, I still see a pathway to 80 to 100 units being delivered sometime relatively early in the New Year, but it is a challenging pathway for sure, and the longer we go without certainty, the narrower that pathway becomes." The Jasper Recovery Coordination Centre is reporting that...

The wolverine is a reclusive, mysterious animal that is rarely seen by humans. I t’s scientific name is Gulo gulo, which translates to ‘glutton’ or ‘I swallow. ' But what’s more gluttonous? The feeding habits of a reclusive wild animal, or the self-serving policy decisions of a populist government g...

Jasper’s mayor is number one. Richard Ireland has been voted Best Municipal Elected Official in political watcher Dave Cournoyer’s Best of Alberta Politics 2024 Survey . Cournoyer publishes the DaveBerta substack , where he writes and podcasts about Alberta politics and elections. “The annual survey...

Dear Premier Smith, MLA Long, the Hinton Medical Clinic, and fellow Albertans: I am reaching out through this open letter to shed light on the urgent healthcare issues affecting our community in Hinton, Alberta. Over the past two years, I have personally tried eight times to schedule a doctor’s appo...

Is Alberta’s Minister of Forestry and Parks camouflaging the hunting of “problem” grizzly bears as a wildlife safety measure? Back in June, Minister Todd Loewen, a renowned big game hunter and shareholder in a Valleyview-based outfitting business, signed a ministerial order that, to this retired bio...

Record dryness, extreme heat, high winds, and a lightning storm. This summer in Jasper National Park, all of the ingredients of a recipe for disaster were in place. Now, two and a half months after that disaster came to pass, another set of circumstances— misinformation, toxic politics and facts-sta...

Jasper is at a crossroads. Like its residents, legislators in Ottawa must come together today to expedite Jasper’s rebuild “Will there just be crumbs, dad?” We were driving back to Jasper—for the first time since the fire. We were passing through the community’s west gate, trying to prepare the kids...

Jasper’s mayor is pushing back on prevailing narratives that suggest the municipality’s transit system has been rushed, town capital costs are out of control and Jasper’s financial capacity is at its breaking point. As he does every spring, on May 8, Mayor Richard Ireland took the stage at the Jaspe...

Changes will send chills through municipal councils and create a lot of grief for MLAs  It has been very interesting to watch over the past week how Premier  Danielle Smith ’s United Conservative Party government has unrolled its suite of changes to municipal governance and local election laws, and ...